CHRIS CSIK WINS THE HORSESHOE BALTIMORE MAIN EVENT

Chris Csik defeats a 670 player field to earn the top prize of $206,020 and berth into the National Championship.  

Baltimore, Md. (March 10, 2015) -- Chris Csik earned the biggest score of his poker career during the early hours of Tuesday morning after taking down the World Series of Poker Circuit Baltimore main event.

The 27-year-old poker professional took down the $1,675 No Limit Hold’em event and topped a field of 670 players to take home $206,020, a gold ring and a seat into the WSOP National Championship. Csik defeated Fasial Sidiqui in a heads-up battle that lasted 97 hands and outlasted a final table that included top pros Steve Karp and Roland Israelashvili, who finished in ninth and seventh place, respectively.

“It’s really just surreal,” said Csik after his win. “I couldn’t even tell you right now. It’s hard to understand the gravity of the situation. Obviously it’s a lot of money and I work hard for a score like this and it feels really cool to get it.”

Csik nearly doubles his previous career tournament earnings of $276,523 with the win, but even though he picks up his first six-figure score, he doesn’t think much will change.

“It’s the biggest of my life, but it’s hard to say that the lifestyle is going to change,” said the Martinsville, NJ native. “Because every score that you get you think it’s going to be the be all and end all, but then you just keep looking for more and just keep going out there. I’ve been going at it a while and it’s a tough sport to stick with.”

The final day of this four-day, two starting flight event got underway on Monday at 2 pm with 13 players remaining and Csik entering the day third in chips. After Ben Foster, Roger Brooks and Theodoros Manolatos quickly hit the rail, they were combined at the unofficial final table of 10.

By the time Kevin Johnson went home in 10th place, Csik had picked up the chip lead and at the final table of nine and then never looked back.

He held that chip lead for most of the final table, but got heads-up against Siddiqui at a 2-to-1 chip disadvantage. After chipping away at the lead, he was able to score a double up with pocket fours against Siddiqui’s A-2 after getting it all in preflop and then never let go of it until he was able to river a flush and get the rest of the chips against Siddiqui’s top pair.

Csik also earned the distinction of winning the first WSOP Circuit main event in the state of Maryland, which had plenty of top tier pros come out for. Aside from Karp and Israelashvili, Phil Hellmuth, Christian Harder, Nathan Tuthill, Joe McKeehen, and Amanda Musmeci all made their way to Baltimore and earned a cash in the event. Other top pros to play the event included Darryll Fish, Vinny Pahuja, Ralph Massey, Jake Schwartz and Timothy Miles.

“There were some great players,” said Csik of the field strength in Baltimore. “Especially towards the end. But you were deep and you had plenty of room to work with.”

Here are a look at the final table results:

1. Chris Csik - $206,020
2. Faisal Siddiqui - $127,484
3. Daniel Fisher - $93,505
4. Jonathan Gilliam - $63,536
5. Jason Rogers - $52,411
6. John Moore - $40,029
7. Roland Israelashvili - $30,974
8. Trevor Deeter - $24,281
9. Steve Karp - $19,276